Saving Seafood

Multi X mortality event revised downward by 50,000 fish

June 1, 2022 — Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon farmer Multi X, which reported the death of 300,000 fish at one of its farms on 22 May, has revised the number downward to 250,000 fish totaling 1,075 metric tons (MT), Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, Sernapesca, reported.

The mortality was associated with a decrease in dissolved oxygen content affecting Atlantic salmon at the farmer’s San Luis center in the concession group ACS 1, located in the Reloncaví Estuary in the Los Lagos region. The extraction of all mortality was completed on 22 May and subsequently sent to the Fiordo Austral Holding’s Salmonoil and Los Glaciares reduction plants in Puerto Montt.

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Emergency meeting in Chile paints dire picture of salmon supply chain

April 3, 2020 — Workers in Chile’s salmon processing sector have been protesting on the island of Chiloé – an industry production hub – arguing the companies they work for are not doing enough to protect them from the COVID-19 virus.

Last week, the national government closed off Chiloé to much of outside traffic, only allowing the circulation of transport it deemed essential, which includes the salmon industry. Declaring the measures inadequate, Chiloé residents and even town mayors have taken to the streets in protest, closing highways to prevent all traffic, including salmon industry trucks, from circulating.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sernapesca implements 14-point measures to avoid salmon health emergency amid COVID-19

March 30, 2020 — While safeguarding workers’ health and taking preemptive measures against the closing of markets have topped Chilean salmon industry executives’ list of priorities throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) has raised another concern: What happens if the fish die?

A number of seafood company employees have already implemented a work-from-home policy for most employees to allow them to minimize contact with other humans and reduce the spread of the virus, but the continued operations of salmon farms require the presence of some workers at farming facilities. A curfew was declared on 18 March as part of Chilean President Sebastian Piñera’s emergency measures, and  isolation and the closing off of cities in the south was decreed for Puerto Williams and Chillán, as well as for Chiloé, an island with a large presence of salmon-farming firms. However, salmon farms and their employees are exempt from the restrictions, according to Chile’s Sub-Secretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca), as they must be compatible with a fundamental need of guaranteeing the availability of the country’s food supply.

Read the full story at Seafood Source